In different places where public converge for the acquisition and diffusion of products and services, such as exhibitions, conventions, information centers, and so on, the use of furniture and displays is necessary such that people can contact suppliers and get to know their products. In this regard, a great variety of these pieces of furniture is available and built in wood, metal, with shelves and partitions; however, in general terms, they are bulky, difficult to handle, and their transportation results a hard work as they take up too much space.
A known solution in the prior art has been the creation of foldable furniture and displays made from cardboard. Nevertheless, their poor structural rigidity is a drawback, such that items of considerable weight cannot be placed thereon, and furthermore, it is impossible for the vendor to lean on such furniture. One example of a cardboard display is described in the European patent application No. EP 0 575 275 A1, incorporated herein by reference. In addition, this type of cardboard furniture lacks a remarkable aesthetic appearance, which is an important factor in order to achieve a commercial impact for the product or service being offered.
There are also furniture having an infinity of panels, rods and posts attached to each other, nevertheless, the assembling thereof is a time consuming task due to the great number of pieces to be assembled.
However, there is furniture that is well accepted and very practical to be used for such purposes, as those displays comprising a base, a cover over the base and a board located above the cover. In this type of displays, the board is used to identify the supplier's name or the product being offered, while the supplier is located behind the module to attend to the approaching clients.
One of these displays is disclosed in the Mexican Patent No. 212,227, wherein the most important advantage is the module elements detach and store in the form of a portfolio. In the module of this patent, inside the base a hinged shelf is included. However, a drawback in said module is the movement of the shelf and post sections holding the board within the base when stored therein. Further, when the module is assembled, the posts and board have a poor stability, moreover, the pins used to close the cover are external and, therefore, are a point prone to fail.
In the Mexican Patent No. 225,710, the module of the above mentioned patent was restructured, wherein, the most important changes are the inclusion of cuts at 45° between the post sections and a second shelf running over a rail. In addition, a support to keep fixed the post sections inside the second shelf was included. Notwithstanding this change, the board again has instability, since it balances over the cover, further, the shelves often fall from their horizontal position, since in their free side ends, the shelves are subject to pressure between the base side panels only. Moreover, the cover (portfolio body) has strength problems when the module to be stored therein, particularly, the cover is prone to breaking when handling and transporting. More specifically, when the cover is struck at its inner part, the transmission of the impact through the side walls to the lid has been seen, breaking said lid.
The forming of scratches over the base panels each time this is taken out or in the cover is another problem having been noticed. Moreover, when the base is within the cover, a movement of the base from the top to the bottom has been noticed, thereby damaging the cover.
In order to solve the above mentioned problems of the Mexican Patents No. 212,227, and No. 225,710 modules, the module has been improved as disclosed in the International Patent Application No. PCT/IB2005/002083; in this application, means to support the shelves in place are proposed, further firmly fastening these when the module is collapsed, i.e., the shelves do not move when the module is transported as a portfolio. Moreover, one of the shelves is slidable to be easily located in the horizontal position when the module is being assembled. In addition, modifications improving the cover strength are incorporated, such cover serves as the case to store the base with the board and the posts therein.
It is worth to mention that these type of modules stored in a portfolio form are commercially available at the Mexican market under the trademark Quick Counter®.
Now then, this module meets the needs for the services and products offered in “points of sales” since it is very solid. However, a drawback is that it has to be hold to be transported, and although there are not many pieces to be assembled, it is necessary to couple and decouple pieces, mainly at the board section, to raise the furniture. Further, to hingedly attach the module base panels, aluminum hinges are used, increasing its weight which is of about 13 kg.
Another foldable furniture is described in the International Patent Application No. PCT/IB2007/003578 (U.S. application Ser. No. 12/516,338), which inventor is the same as that for the present invention. Particularly, said application describes a collapsible service cart, having the advantage of housing its pieces between the side walls thereof, however, among the cart pieces there are doors and a board required to be handled by the user to be fixed and coupled in their corresponding place.
Summarizing, the need for light, easy assembling and portable exhibition furniture is always present. Further, in many occasions is desirable for the furniture to have sockets, since people working on the furniture frequently use electric apparatuses or devices.